CPF and Different CPF Accounts
Every Singapore Citizen and Singapore Permanent Resident has his or her own CPF (Central Provident Fund) account. CPF is a compulsory comprehensive savings and pension plan, to fund retirement, healthcare, education, and housing needs. In your CPF there are Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA), MediSave Account (MA), and for those who are above 55, Retirement Account (RA).
Funds in OA earn 2.5% interest and people usually use it to fund housing needs (for example paying for a down payment or monthly installment of their property). Funds in RA and MA earn 4% interest. If after funding for housing needs, there are still available OA funds, or if you decide not to use OA to pay for housing, it’s good to consider investing your OA fund since leaving the fund in the account with 2.5% interest is not ideal.
CPF OA Investment Selection Criteria
What is the best vehicle to invest in CPF OA? My selection has two criteria. One, the investment must be well diversified. I definitely don’t want to take the risk of putting my hard-earned CPF money into a single company (or a few companies) and seeing that company (or companies) go burst! Two, the investment cost must be low enough. We can’t control our investment return, but we can always control our investment cost. High costs will compound and eat away at our wealth.
My Choice of CPF-OA Investment
Historically CPF OA investment has been costly. There are limited funds available, as a lot of the low-cost and globally diversified index funds are not approved by the CPF board for CPF investment. In recent years, CPF investment has been made easier. What I’m currently using is to invest through Endows as they provide low-cost passive funds which track the indexes. Two of their recently launched funds are ‘Amundi Prime US Fund’ and ‘Amundi Index MSCI World Fund’, which charge 0.05% and 0.10% expense respectively. If you include the 0.3% platform fee, the investment cost for these two funds will be 0.35% and 0.40% respectively. These are the best options I can find in the market right now (until better ones become available).
Please take note that I’m not a financial advisor, so please do your research by reviewing and comparing funds composition, and expenses before making any purchase decisions. Also, I am not being paid by Endowus or by the fund for this recommendation. I’m just sharing what I found the best options in the market. If you have found any better ones, please share.
CPF和CPF账户
每个新加坡公民和新加坡永久居民都有自己的CPF（中央公积金）账户。CPF 是一项强制性的综合储蓄和养老金计划，为退休、医疗保健、教育和住房需求提供资金。在您的CPF中有普通账户(OA)、特别账户(SA)、医疗账户(MA)，对于 55 岁以上的人，还有退休账户(RA)。
OA中的资金赚取2.5% 的利息，人们通常用它来支付住房需求（例如支付首期付款或每月分期付款）。RA和MA中的资金可赚取4% 的利息。如果在为住房需求提供资金后，仍有可用的OA资金，或者如果您决定不使用OA支付住房费用，最好考虑投资您的OA资金，因为将资金留在账户中挣2.5% 的利息并不是最理想的.
CPF OA投资选择标准
那投资CPF OA 的最佳工具是什么？我的选择有两个标准。一是投资一定要多元化。我绝对不想冒险将我辛苦赚来的CPF的钱投入一家公司（或几家公司），然后眼睁睁看着那家公司（或几家公司）破产！二是投资费用必须足够低。我们无法控制投资回报，但我们始终可以控制投资费用。高昂的费用会并吞噬我们的财富。
我对CPF-OA投资的选择
过去CPF OA投资费用很高。可选的投资种类有限，因为许多低成本和多元化的指数基金未被公积金局批准用于CPF投资。近年来，公积金投资变得更加容易。我目前正在使用的是通过Endows进行投资，因为它们提供跟踪指数的低成本被动基金。他们最近推出的两只基金是 “Amundi Prime US Fund” 和 “Amundi Index MSCI World Fund”，分别收取 0.05% 和 0.10% 的费用。如果加上0.3%的平台费，这两只基金的投资成本分别为0.35%和0.40%。这些是目前市场上我找到最好的选择（直到更好的选择出现）。
我要指出我不是财务顾问，因此请在做出任何购买决定之前请仔细研究和比较投资的基金的构成和费用。此外，我没有因为我的推荐从Endowus或该基金赚钱一分报酬。我只是分享我在市场上找到的最佳选择。如果您找到了更好的投资选择，也欢迎分享。
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